


There's a Koala in My Room.

by Koalagriton



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-04-20 11:03:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4784957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koalagriton/pseuds/Koalagriton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She went to the junk yard knowing the magical turtles would eventually appear. She knew that they would help her and keep her safe if only she managed to follow one back to their home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's a Koala in My Room.

She'd seen them around before, wandering the junk yard where she had been living for a time. That was where she saw them talking to the homeless people. She had been frightened at first thinking they were monsters from the books and scary stories she'd been told and hid from them but she realised quickly that they were good. They often brought clothing, food and even books and stuff to the people there. They were like fairies or leprechauns, maybe there was a story about magic turtles somewhere but she just hadn't read a book about them yet.

 

She had to leave the junk yard, the other homeless people hadn't wanted her there when they found her. The Professor had walked her to the police station when they found out she was living there and she was given back to the people who were taking care of her. She refused to think of them as her parents. She wasn't a six year old baby anymore, she was seven and she could take care of herself. Anything was better than staying at home, anyway. There were a lot of things she knew she didn't understand from the world of grown-ups and being returned to the ones who kept hurting her was one of them.

 

She squatted in the shadow of an alley and poked a broken plastic doll with a stick. When she heard some voices she quickly hid herself away squeezing in the gap between the wall and the dumpster. At least there was some good to her being so small. She waited until the voices had gone completely before coming out again. She looked around and considered it dark enough to sneak to her destination.

 

She had to be careful she wasn't seen so they wouldn't take her away again. She had been watching the junk yard for the past few nights. She knew the magical turtles liked to come here, she heard them say so. They would get things here they needed for their home. If you were a magical turtle you couldn't just walk into a supermarket like normal people and buy stuff, it made sense. Leprechauns like rainbows and magic turtles like junk yards. _And homeless people_ , she added in her head. And hopefully little runaway girls too.

 

She just needed to wait and follow one back if she saw it. They might run away or not let her go to their secret magic turtle land if she asked up front. Once she was there she could live with the magical turtles, they would keep her safe and she wouldn't have to stay on the street any more. It was starting to get really cold at night. She would have to be super sneaky but she was small and quiet, she could do that.

 

She pulled her hood over her head, burrowing into the furry collar of her grey jacket until her cold nose was covered. She then pulled her arms into her sleeves as she huddled in a dark corner swinging the empty sleeves around and sat among old newspapers to wait. Not long after, her waiting paid off and the big green truck she knew was theirs drove into the junk yard and parked a little to the side of where the homeless people gathered around a fire. Sneaking closer, she watched two of the magic turtles hop out of the truck and close it.

 

She frowned. If the truck was shut and there were no windows opened or anything she wouldn't be able to get in without someone hearing. Her eyes started filling with tears and her mouth trembled but she covered it to avoid being heard while she looked longingly at the truck. Maybe if she showed herself to them when the homeless people weren't looking she could convince them of taking her with them.

 

She had barely finished the thought when the turtles returned carrying boxes, opened the back door and put them inside leaving it open as they left to get more. This was her chance! She scurried forward trying to make as little noise as possible. _Quiet as a mouse._ She repeated to herself over and over as she climbed into the back among the boxes. She looked around as she heard footsteps approaching and had just enough time to squeeze under one of the seats and curl herself into as small a ball as possible before they reached the opening to put in something heavy that made the whole truck bounce.

 

“Why didn't Donnie come?” One of them whined as he walked around the truck and climbed into the passenger's seat. “We're going to have to carry that thing all the way into his lab.”

 

“Stop complainin' ya bonehead. Donnie goes out to get shit fer us all the time. It didn't take long, did it?”

 

“But I just got a new comic book and now I won't have time to read it before we have to go on patrol!”

 

“Quit yer whinin'. You're givin' me a headache.” The gruff voice answered as they drove away.

 

She listened to them talk back and forth trying to get an idea of what they were like and didn't notice the time passing when they finally came to a stop. She stayed where she was while they emptied out the van peeking out only when the truck doors were closed again. This did not look like their secret burrow (did turtles burrow?) or hideout or magic turtle land. She frowned as she looked around what looked like an old warehouse-turned-garage. Maybe they were leaving the boxes here somewhere and then they would head to their home. She decided she would wait to be certain and curled up under the seat again, dozing off shortly after.

 

She woke up with a start, not remembering where she was until it all came back to her. She didn't know how long she'd been asleep but figured she needed to look around because the turtles weren't going anywhere else. _Maybe there's a secret door here somewhere_ , she thought as she climbed out of the truck and looked around the dark room.

 

There was a dull glow throughout the room illuminating tables covered in parts and tools. She turned towards the source, one of the walls had glowing carvings on it and she approached it. _This must be it!_ Her heart beat quickly as she put a hand to trace the markings and she jumped when the wall slid open revealing an empty room. _Maybe it's a portal!_ She rushed inside and had to cover her mouth to avoid making noise when the door slid shut and the room began moving. After a moment another side of the room opened up into a very large darkened room.

 

She tried to control her breathing as she walked in, her heart pounding in her chest and loudly in her ears. There were what looked like emergency lights on at different corners of the room so she wasn't in total darkness but it was so large that she couldn't really make out all the dark shapes and shadows. She considered what to do next. So far it hadn't worked out the way she had imagined it in her head. She shifted nervously from one foot to the other and tried not to whimper as she turned in a circle trying to take it all in.

 

There was no one here, she needed to find a turtle. That was her plan, right? Show herself once she was at their home and ask to stay. _They had to let her!_ They would keep her safe and she could live with them. It was late, they were probably sleeping. _Where would turtles sleep?_ There was a staircase leading to rooms upstairs so she went there, mindful of her footsteps.

 

They all seemed to be empty. No turtles to be found. Looking through each room she felt like one of the characters from a story she'd been told about a little girl and bears. No, the turtles were different and she wasn't going to eat their porridge without asking permission. _That was just rude._ She would have been angry at the girl too.

 

The first room had been nearly empty, only some paper on the walls with funny letters she couldn't read and swords on a stand with a neatly made bed. The second one had a hammock (so cool!) and weights and things for boxers like a heavy bag hung up by the ceiling.

 

She was considering staying in this third room while she waited. There were toys on the shelves and picture books and posters everywhere. _This is probably where they keep things for the children they help_ , she decided. Like at the doctor's where they had a little table and colouring books and toys to play with while you waited. _I'm not a baby though, I don't need to play with the toys to keep myself busy_. She'd made up her mind to sit “quietly like a good girl” while she waited but when she heard loud voices downstairs she jumped up and crawled under the bed on instinct, frightened.

 

She heard steps and laughter and the room was suddenly bathed in light. She saw two green two-toed feet walk over to the bed and turn to face out before the mattress and its metal mesh support sunk in the middle bumping her on her hood-covered head. She couldn't help the startled squeak she made and the turtle froze.

 

“Klunk? Is that you?” The turtle lowered a hand into her line of sight and rubbing the fingers together he made little kissing noises to lure out, she guessed, his cat. She briefly though about reaching for the hand but then decided against it, it would probably scare him. She should probably just crawl out and talk to him, but her body was frozen in place with fear. She was barely even breathing.

 

This was going all wrong! It wasn't supposed to be this way. The more she thought about it the more unlikely it seemed to her that her plan would work. They would probably be angry that she sneaked into their house and went into their rooms. She had been punished back home for doing something like this. Why didn't she think about it before? Tears welled up in her eyes and she pressed her trembling mouth closed to keep from making any noise. Maybe she could wait until he fell asleep and sneak out then.

 

The mattress dipped again and the green feet walked over to the door, opened it and flicked off the light but before he walked away she accidentally made a wheezy hiccup sound and knew she had been caught.

 

“Who's there?” She heard a metallic clink like the sound of a necklace or a chain sliding together. “Uhh... Come out?” He sounded a bit unsure.

 

She closed her eyes trying to squeeze out all the tears. This was it. She couldn't let him think she was a baby or they would never want her to stay. She crawled out and stood up in the middle of the room at the same time he flicked the lights back on.

 

The moment he set eyes on her he let out a high pitched scream and let go of one of the bits of wood he was spinning. It went flying into a shelf, knocking over the carefully placed toys on top and startling her too.

 

“I'm sorry!” She said quickly and not knowing what else to do moved forward with her arms outstretched to him to stop the turtle from running away from her but there was no need. The turtle lowered his arm with the other spinny wood thing, one hand on his chest as he breathed in deeply.

 

“Holy cow! You scared me, kid! What are you doing here?” She heard loud rushing footsteps and someone else shouting, asking what was wrong and she locked gazes with the turtle in front of her. Still frightened she jumped forward and latched onto his leg holding onto it with all her strength and, shaking.

 

“I'm sorry!” She squeaked again and then swallowed and went silent as they reached them.

 

“Mikey! What...?” The turtle paused as he noticed her. She hid her face into the green leg when he raised his hand and pointed. “WHAT?!” From the gruff voice she guessed he was the driver from before.

 

“Why is there a Koala in my room?” He answered. “I have no idea, Raph, I am asking myself the same thing.” The turtle called Mikey pat her head still covered by the furry hood of her grey jacket. “Seriously freaked me out to find him there in the middle of the room in the dark. I need to stop watching Japanese horror movies...”

 

“LEO!” The gruff turtle bellowed.

 

“Raph!” The door she hadn't had time to look into down the hall opened and another turtle came out. “You know Master Splinter is asleep and Leo is meditating, can you keep it down? For once I was going to go to bed early... what?”

 

“Donnie, meet Koala. Koala, Donnie.” Mikey lifted his leg but she held on tight, seated on his foot with her arms and legs circling the limb with all her strength. “Can we keep him?” He said cheerfully and she nodded her head against his calf making the turtle grin.

 

“LEO!” Both Donnie and Raph called out.

 

She didn't hear running footsteps up the stairs but a soft landing on the opposite side. Did he just jump up here? “What's going on?” Leo asked, he had one of his swords out and a fierce look so she cowered into the green calf. They were still scary up close even if she knew they were supposed to be good.

 

“Dude! Put that away you're scaring my koala bear!”

 

“Is that a human child?!” the one called Leo exclaimed after putting away his sword and stepping closer. “How did he get in here? Mikey! What did you do?!”

 

“Great, just what we needed.” The one called Raph said. “You have to go put him back where you found him. He ain't a pet, Mikey”

 

“Why do you all assume this was my fault? I don't go around kidnapping children, no matter how cute and cuddly they look! This one was in my room when I got here. If I had to guess I'd think you're an early Christmas present from Santa.” She nodded and he chuckled in response.

 

The one they called Donnie knelt down in front of her and peered into her face. “Don't frighten him, he's really young, I'd say around five or six at most.” She frowned at that. She was NOT five OR six but she wasn't going to tell them anything yet. “Hello, don't be scared, we won't hurt you. Want to let go of Mikey's leg so we can talk?” She shook her head no. He spoke softly and it calmed her down a bit but the other one wanted to take her back and she couldn't risk it before she'd had a chance to convince them to let her stay.

 

“Are you lost?” Another shake of her head and it made Donnie look at her surprised and share a glance with Leo. “You came here on purpose?” She nodded. “How did you get in?” She bit her lip and looked away. “You don't want to tell me?” She shook her head.

 

“Does that mean he does want to tell us or he doesn't?” Leo asked.

 

“What the hell does it matter?! Let's just take him to a police station and let _them_ play 20 questions with the kid.” He leaned down to pull her off Mikey's leg and she flinched at his hand, pulling her head away to squeeze between Mikey's knees with a frightened cry.

 

“Raph?! What's wrong with you! It's just a frightened little kid. Where did you leave your heart?” Mikey scolded him.

 

The one called Donatello gently pulled down her furry hood revealing the uneven greasy tufts of her short black hair with a few almost-bald spots along the back. He used his hand to gently wipe a grimy, wet cheek. “Have you been living on the streets?” She nodded and he turned serious, looking up to Mikey as he stood. “Mikey, why don't you help our guest to the bathroom? I think a warm shower is in order. I'll find something he can wear as pyjamas and we'll whip something up for dinner, you hungry?” She smiled and nodded through her sniffling.

 

“Yessir! One hot bubble-bath coming right up!”

 

“Don, you can't be serious!” Raph exclaimed incredulous.

 

“I agree with Raph, Donnie, we can't keep him here.”

 

“Leo, it will be dawn before we can get to the nearest police station, April and Casey are away for the rest of the week, this kid is cold, hungry and probably tired and there's nothing we can do until tomorrow night anyway.” Donnie had run out of fingers numbering reasons by the time he was done.

 

Leo crossed his arms and finally sighed, defeated. “Okay, but only until tomorrow night, then we'll take this kid home and I'm not going to argue about this.” His expression turned softer as he talked to her directly. “How does some leftover spaghetti and meatballs sound, that okay?” Her stomach made a loud rumble at the thought. “I'll take that as a yes.” He smiled at her and headed downstairs.

 

Raph snorted and stomped off muttering something under his breath about taking in strays but the one wearing purple smiled warmly at her and Mikey stretched out his hand for her to take. She unravelled herself from around the turtle's leg and reached for the hand, letting herself be pulled up and lead to what she guessed was the bathroom.

 

Mikey prepared the bath while she fidgeted in the corner of the room. “Can you bathe on your own? I don't know much about kids but I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to leave you alone in case you slip or drown or something. I'll sit over here facing the door, is that okay?”

 

She nodded and waited until he was seated on the top of the toilet seat before starting to undress. “Toss me your clothes and I'll tell Donnie to go get them washed and dried for you, kay?” She bundled up her clothing and threw them towards the door and then got in the warm tub to start washing.

 

The hot soapy water felt slightly uncomfortable against her cold skin but she quickly got used to the temperature as it warmed her up. It had really started getting cold outside and her nap in the van hadn't helped her much either so by the time she had toed off her shoes she could hardly feel her feet.

 

“You're not going to fall asleep in there, are you?” The turtle's voice made her jerk out of the doze she had fallen into and she started rapidly scrubbing the grime off of her tan skin with the wash-cloth and the bar of soap she had been given.

 

“I'm done.” She said softly when she got out of the tub and the turtle reached for a large towel, tossing it over her head like a ghost Halloween costume before starting to rub against the top to dry off her hair. She squirmed and giggled against him as he tried to towel her off but he was only managing to tangle her up in the large fuzzy cloth. “You're squishing my face!”

 

“Humans have a really weird heads.” Mikey joked as he poked her cheeks. “And what's this? I think I trapped something!” Mikey pinched her nose playfully over the towel.

 

“Dats mby nbose!” She exclaimed through more giggles.

 

He let her go and she squirmed and shifted until she managed to pull her head out of the towel and start drying off the rest of her body before she got cold again. Mikey was rubbing her back gently but she suddenly yelped and jerked away from him.

 

“What's wrong? Are you hurt?” A startled Mikey held up his hands over where they had just been and he looked at her worriedly. She bit her lip and looked away when he slowly and very carefully uncovered the back of her shoulder to look for injuries since she wouldn't answer.

 

The turtle's face turned serious and he forced a smile. “Wait here for a second, okay?” He rose and headed for the doorway. “Donnie!” He called out. “Can you come here a second?” He came back in the bathroom and knelt beside her. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

 

Donnie stepped into the bathroom then. “What is it Mikey?” Mikey gestured for him to come over and he walked towards them looking a bit puzzled. “I was just putting the clothes in the washer but we'll need to patch up the shirt, it's full of... holes...”

 

Donnie gasped as Mikey pulled back the towel revealing the circular marks on her back. A couple of them were fresh but others looked much older. “Are those... cigarette burns?”

 

Fresh tears erupted from her and she was biting back sobs. She didn't want to show them. They'd ask how she'd gotten the burns and what she did to be punished that way. She hadn't meant to misbehave, she could be good if she really tried. She didn't want them to think she was naughty, they might not want her to stay if they thought she was “trouble” and “good-for-nothing”.

 

“Please!” She said through keening sobs. “Please, don't take me back there.” She covered her face with the towel. “I'll be g-ood, I p-romise! I'll behave.” She cried into the cloth. “Please...”

 

Mikey pulled her into a hug, being careful of her injuries and shushing the distressed child in his arms. He lifted her gently and he sat on the toilet seat with her clinging to him, seated on his thigh, he small feet poking out of the bottom of the towel and dangling in the air. He looked up at Donnie who had an angry frown on his face as he stared at the marks. “Don't worry. We won't take you back, I promise.” He replied fiercely, looking straight at Donnie who was frowning. “We'll fix this, right Donnie?”

 

Donnie finally acquiesced with a small nod. “Take him to the infirmary, okay. I'll bring the clothes there but I want to check him over first. Don't worry, I'll go talk with Leo and tell him our guest might be staying a bit longer than we thought.”

 

“You hear that, Koala? You're staying with us, okay? We'll keep you safe until we can work something out.” She nodded against his warm shoulder, clinging to him as he held her close. “Everything is going to be okay.”

 


End file.
